Dr. Leo Marvin, What About Bob?

Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss) is an old-fashioned straight man rarely seen in the irony-rich comedies of today — a fussy perfectionist with a low boiling point. When he takes his family to their vacation home in New Hampshire, he envisions peaceful afternoon naps and leisurely cruises on the lake. Disruption comes in the form of Bob Wiley (Bill Murray), a new patient suffering from a multitude of phobias and a total ignorance of personal space. The story unfolds as a series of scenes that gradually ratchet up Leo’s discomfiture, which ultimately leads to him raiding a sporting goods store and arming himself with a shotgun and armful of dynamite. And it works, with the movie’s many fans admiring in particular Murray’s expert way of playing shambling idiots. But Dreyfuss, in the tougher and unsympathetic part, finds the strange comedy in the doctor’s unraveling.